We need a Robin smiley.

That whole version of Brownstone is subdued and weird. Yeah, Brain's drumming does nothing for me there, but the rest of the song sounds extremely low-key. Maybe it's just the quality of the recording.

Brain's YCBM was mind bogglingly messed up. Can you point to a Brownstone screw up? I never noticed that before.

The riffs are pretty sludgy there. Not sure I care for it- definitely something you'd have to *work* at appreciating. But, that was pretty much the point, from the written intro.

I'll give the whole thing a few tries for sure.

Estranged sounded so awesome. I hope Axl gets his shit together as the tour goes on.

As far as the ongoing hijack, my biggest disappointment with RIR wasn't his conditioning (though it was a close #2.)  As much as I love the original GNR, and no one can truly surpass them, the most excited I've been for GNR is recent years was during the 2002 lineup period.  It represented the promise of prolific output, proof that Axl is a fucking creative god (proof for the non-initiated, I didn't need it), and a badass band that I could get behind as a band.

So now, Axl's got a stable lineup again. He's playing a show that historically has been a peek at what's in store for the near future. He's brought in a dude (DJ) that while I'm not a fan of, is nothing if not an expert writer and promoter. But it doesn't look like any of this means there's new stuff in the cards.

So my disappointment is that I may need to adjust what it is I love about GNR. It's possible I need to come to grips with the strong possibility that I'm not going to hear a shitload of new music that someone with Axl's talent should be producing. If he can sound good and put on a good show, I can still love seeing him out there killing it. 

But in my perfect world, the 2002 band would be putting a third album by now. In my next perfect one, this band would drop an album in the middle of the NA tour. 

And I can't believe I've come around to this way of thinking, but I agree with whoever said it upthread: I'd rather get a 2002 reunion than a classic one at this point. I can't detract from the original guys, but for new music that could be relevant today, that's the well I'd want to drink from.

Tommy might just be one of the greatest guys there is.